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It is a Hollywood cliché: the struggling actor dreaming of being spotted by a talent scout while working in a bar or restaurant. Rebecca Chew, however, wasn’t even thinking about an acting career when she was plucked from obscurity by Richard Curtis.

She was working at a restaurant in Cornwall, where Curtis was filming his new comedy About Time, when she served the director and his family pizza. A month later she was shocked to be offered a small but important role — as a restaurant worker.

Chew, 18, who had just finished studying for a singing diploma, was offered the